


Oh shit, am I in love?

by pressuredrightnow



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-06-03 17:38:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19468846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pressuredrightnow/pseuds/pressuredrightnow
Summary: “Henry, I know you’re exploring your writing abilities and authorial powers and having to write about fairytales does give you some need to be very… rosy on your stories. But is this really necessary?”“She’s in love, Emma. People who are in love do sappy stuff even if they don’t like it.”





	Oh shit, am I in love?

“Henry, I know you’re exploring your writing abilities and authorial powers and having to write about fairytales does give you some need to be very… rosy on your stories. But is this really necessary?” Emma flips through the author’s book about a knight admiring the princess she’s tasked to protect.

“She’s in love, Emma. People who are in love do sappy stuff even if they don’t like it.” Henry rolled his eyes as Emma continued to peruse the book looking weirdly sick but nodding at some parts.

“ _’The sun is nothing compared to her smile that manages to light up the entire room and lift spirits up and, like a spell, has bewitched the brave knight’_ that’s amazing but at the same time an overkill.”

“You don’t know that. Maybe other people do feel like that.” Henry said indignantly.

“Well I guess this is okay since you’re recapping fairytale stories.”

“They’re still real people, Emma, I can’t change what they feel.”

“Have you been in love?”

Henry looked away, “no.”

“Then you don’t know what it feels like to fall in love, do you?”

“Well, you’ve been in love before what does it feel like?” Henry stares at her, waiting.

Emma stopped. She was in love before with Neal and it didn’t feel like a fairytale. No. It was very real and full of ups and downs, of trust and betrayal, of pain, of death. She didn’t feel like time stopping whenever he does something or compare his eyes to any kind of precious stones. She did, however, realize that the people closest to you are the ones that can hurt you the most and them leaving almost feels like death.

Being in love is the willingness to accept these terms and be happy with it. She wished she could have the fairytale story Henry’s writing about but it is what it is.

Emma closes the book and chucks it at him.

“How about we go to Granny’s and get you some chocolate milkshake and wait for another fifty years before you ask me that question.”

Henry groans, she’d managed to evade yet another interrogation.

“Fine, but I’m getting burger and fries.”

“Your mother’s going to be there, you ask her.” Emma chuckles as she puts on her jacket, glancing at Henry who’s still skulking on the couch.

“You go ahead, I’ll just clean this up.” Henry started picking up scrap papers and stack of books gathered around the coffee table and putting it away. Emma nodded and told him to hurry it up or she’ll start eating his fries when they come.

“Eyes like endless sea, touch burning through layers and into her bones, pff.” Emma couldn’t believe Henry wrote those things. Admittedly they’re good but she just can’t suspend her belief even if her own parents are there with their never ending honeymoon phase and everyone in town literally fairytale characters.

“If that’s what being in love is like then I’ll never find it.”

“Find what?”

Emma startles and jumps a step back, hands raising to blast whoever it was. It was Regina holding back a laugh at her expense.

“Jesus, don’t sneak up on me like that.” she shoved her hands in her jacket’s pockets suddenly not knowing what to do with it after that embarrassing stunt.

“I was talking to Archie by the bend, you were brooding and didn’t hear me call you.”

“I’m not brooding, I was just… thinking about fries.” She looks away, cheeks tinting a bit.

“And fries make you look like you’re ready to tackle an army of demons because?” Regina’s baiting her, she knows it.

“Because it’s so good and I’m not in the mood for teasing, Regina.” She doubled her stride.

Regina sensing something brewing under her anger grabbed her hand, stopping her from her frantic walk. She held her arms so Emma’s facing her, though the latter was looking everywhere but her.

“Emma, what’s wrong?”

Emma still avoided her gaze knowing well that one look would dissipate her bad mood instantly. She doesn’t know how that works but it’s a goddamn miracle. It’s saved them couple of times when Emma’s full of emotions and one look sends it all away like a candle being blown out and nothing’s left but smoke and something new to start with.

“Emma.” Regina placed a warm hand on her cheek to guide her eyes back to her and goddamn it, it’s unfair. Unfair that one touch from this woman sends her into a blissful state that nothing else matters but then and there. Emma looks up into Regina’s warm brown eyes and it made her want to spill everything even without Regina saying anything.

“I know there’s something bothering you, what is it?”

“Nothing, it’s stupid.”

“Did you get in an argument with Henry again?”

“No…” well they did not, actually, but even though she’s the one who walked away with a grin on her face it still felt like she lost. Which is ridiculous because they weren’t fighting at all.

Regina’s hand stayed on her cheek and Emma would’ve been embarrassed how she’s leaning towards it without a thought but she’s so preoccupied of true love and rosy language she’s barely holding it in, afraid Regina would find it petty.

Regina’s thumb started caressing her cheek, fuck.

“It’s just… Henry was writing, you know, his newly found powers and all. And he was writing about this couple, a knight and a princess, and I don’t know. I read it and the descriptions… I just find it too fairytale-y and it’s good to imagine love like it but… I don’t know, kind of false? Like something people used to tell each other, something unreachable in real life. I just…”

Emma waited for a chuckle or a laugh, some witty comeback that would pull them out of this awkward conversation. Anything. But nothing came. Emma glanced at Regina and found nothing but understanding and it made her want to cry.

“I know it’s silly, worrying about stories when we have real problems. I’m just overreacting-“

“Emma, no, you’re not.” Regina’s hand dropped to hold her hands, both of them, and Emma felt the warmth of it crawling up her arms and takes root in her chest. The worry of being alone, being left behind, being abandoned vanished like it was never there in the first place a sense of belonging blossoms in her.

She’s not alone anymore, she’s not that orphan kid whose parents doesn’t want, not that girl who was left behind and left to shoulder the burdens alone, she’s not someone else’s woman for the sake of it. Now she has her parents, a family, people who loves her. Henry and Regina, now she has a home.

“Emma, you’re not a failure just because of your past, you will find someone who will love you and see you for who you are, not someone who needs to be sheltered and altered but someone who sees everything and accepts it. You deserve more, Emma.”

“Thanks.” She wiped the stray tear on her eye and shaking her head, a smile appearing on her lips.

Emma felt silly but Regina is right, though habits are hard to break, she can count on her to help. And as she stared at Regina smiling, her hand still in hers, the warmth now comparable to the morning sun in a cool morning. Emma blinked, she looked around just to confirm that it’s still cold out, their breaths making small puffs of air and Regina’s red scarf around her neck was tightly in place. It was cold out but she feels like she’s walking down a breezy meadow under a clear sky.

‘ _Oh…_ ’ Emma thought, _‘Oh, shit, am I in love?’_

**Author's Note:**

> I have a list, I don't know, I think this was supposed to be for an event but I didn't post.


End file.
